So yesterday Karen and I took a drive down to the 4-H State Horse Show in Harrisburg to watch my sister Laurie compete. This was rather fun and I enjoyed my time there. Once we got there and found my mother she realized that her camera battery, that she had just changed, wasn't working. (I'm not sure it was entirely the battery, but I can't figure out what exactly was the problem.) Anyways, so Karen and I went driving around Harrisburg to find a new battery, needless to say, the city is very strange.
As we drove around we didn't find a drug store like we were looking for so Karen decided she would stop at a gas station, get a sub and also ask for directions. The people in the store were not very helpful and were extremely slow. (During my time in Harrisburg I decided that no one had an agenda and everyone just kind of walked around without much of any purpose.) The lady that made the sub took at least 15 minutes and she wasn't even dealing with any other customers. The lady that Karen asked for directions couldn't even tell her where a drug store was, but told her the general direction of the train station where Karen was sure she had seen a CVS before. After driving around a little more we passed a CVS but could not find any parking. Karen then let me out to walk to the store while she drove around the block waiting for me to come out. The plan backfired, however, when I found the doors locked but lights on inside. It was the middle of the day, what could possibly have made them lock the doors? So when Karen came back around I jumped in. About a block down the street we saw a Rite Aid so I jumped out once again and was, this time, successful in my mission. The lady at the counter asked me if I wanted a bag for the battery, I suppose maybe she has to do this, but why would I need a bag for something the size of a quarter. It wouldn't even weigh down the bag!! After all this finagling, that took us most of an hour, we returned to find Laurie's class about to start. Mom replaced the battery, it still did the same thing as before but we worked with it a little and got it to work.
Laurie did very well, but her horse unfortunately did not. I guess she was in heat and the crowd scared her a little, plus the horse next to her would just not stand still. She made it over her jumps with a little less grace than normal and you should have heard the crowd take in there breath when the horse stopped in front of the gate and then jumped it from a standing position. Laurie also had to complete the jump without the stirrup (which I'm told if the judge notices is an automatic disqualification). She also had other problems when Whisper wouldn't go into a canter and, was rather, doing a fast trot (stupid horse, Laurie wanted to shoot her). Needless to say, she did not make the final ten.
Because Karen had her room mate's car she had to leave at 4:30 to get it back and Laurie's show wasn't quite over. My mom had said that they were driving through State College on the way home so I could hitch a ride back with them. After Karen had left I realized that they weren't planning on coming back until this morning. This was unexpected but I figured it just meant I got to spend a little more time with my mom and Laurie.
I stayed at a hotel with my mom and another lady but the bed wasn't real comfortable so it wasn't that great. My mom had wanted to leave at 8 a.m. but the time got pushed back to more like eleven. Thank goodness we got an extra hour of sleep with the time change though, it was very nice.
What sucks the most about the whole thing is that I get depressed after I see family that I haven't seen in a while and probably won't see again for another month. This is my current mood. Although I generally don't like to admit to crying, I will in this case. I always have these kind of breakdowns when I'm leaving family reunions and the like. This might be a reason I don't really like attending them. Anyways, I think writing this has taken a lot of the pain away and I'm hoping the tears are almost dried up. And this is not a pity party, I just wanted to let you know how I feel. I DON'T want you to feel sorry for me. I think most of it is because I have so much fun and then I have to return to a life that sucks. I just wish that college was closer to home and not so much work!
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That sucks - the pain of having to leave family. But you'll get used to being away from them a lot. of course, I'm not a very good judge of such things. I do remember getting very sad as a child when relatives had to leave. But I'm just not too sentimental about such things I guess.
Harrisburg sounds like it sucks too - I haven't been there much, but it sounds pretty crappy - though you'll find those sorts of things in any moderate to large sized city. I have a theory about asking for directions at gas stations - the clerks never seem to know anything about the area. "I'm not really from 'round here" and that sort of thing.
Horses are silly too. It's good that Laurie at least had the horse to blame for her poor performance. State competitions are tough and she might not have done very well anyhow - though I'm sure she'd hit me for saying so - and she probably will the next time she sees me. Well, she'll probably have to wait a while for that.
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